We Create Content.

If branded content is indeed about gaining attention and respect, perhaps we should look less to direct marketers and automators for cues -- as the small business “content-marketing” crowd has advocated for the past few years -- and instead find parallels in traditional media. Some media companies gain massive respect and mind share. But most “publishers,” including bloggers and social media users, struggle perpetually. Internet advertising is shifting from interruptive to native, from distracting users from the content to being the content. As brands continue to engage in content-as-advertising, the winners will wake up to the futility of robo-targeted SEO strategies or social-media campaigns that pump out “curated” links like sewage. The supposed cost savings of unoriginal or uninspiring content are, simply, costs. Indeed, original is the only brand content strategy that moves the needle.